ETF Managed Portfolios: What to Watch

Financial advisors love using ETF managed portfolios to simplify their business. But these pre-made portfolios aren't all customers may think.

As more and more investors are turning to financial advisors, those advisors are increasingly turning to pre-made portfolios of exchange-traded funds to meet their clients' goals. But these new products aren't cheap, customized, or even as safe as you might think.

The hottest trend in asset management is something called managed portfolios. There's now more than $100 billion in these pre-made portfolios of ETFs, after a jump of 40% last year, according to Morningstar. Managed portfolios are similar to asset-allocation...